BBDO Super Hero campaign for United Way of Chicago

Energy BBDO just launched a new campaign for United Way of Chicago, and we're told that it is a "splendid campaign with a mix of": Posters, Postcard/GoCards, Street Teams Superhero Cutouts, Stickers, Radio and even Street Theater - but all we got sent to us so far was a cutout and two postcards. Still, you get the idea. Volunteer = Super Hero.

The essence of the campaign:
Volunteering makes you feel good, like you’re making a difference and doing something extraordinary. Taken to an extreme, it makes you feel heroic. Or super-heroic.
To bring this version of superheros to life, we wanted to use a medium that everyone can relate to: comic books. All ages, races and classes can relate to superheros and the comic book medium.
The creative uses heroic language with a down to earth twist to show that ordinary people can be heroes by the simple act of volunteering their time. To produce it we enlisted Johnny Sampson, a Chicago graphic artist. He created 3 posters modeled on comic book covers and cutouts of a male and female superhero. During guerrilla efforts on the street, the cutouts will be used as a tactic to generate consumer interest/interaction, while United Way volunteers hand out campaign literature (featuring the poster art) and stickers that will generate talk value. All campaign elements will push consumers to the volunteer sign-up website. In key locations, we’ll engage in street theater. We’ll set up old fashioned phone booths and actors will run in, change, and emerge as superheros, ala Clark Kent.
Radio was created and space is being donated by several Chicago area stations. The radio is done in a classic serial radio drama style. We also thought that contextual media could be impactful, so we reached out to media vendors in cinemas. Superhero movies are a fixture of summer: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, Incredible Hulk, etc. We thought this would be a perfect place for the creative. Both Screenvision and NCN are volunteering free media space for the creative – beginning June 30th.

We hope this idea will empower people and help them realize that an individual can make a difference for the greater good.

(before anyone says Badland.. I'm getting there).

Agency: Energy BBDO